Dhaka – State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim trashed reports that the government would publish lists of port site visitors as it was neither technically possible nor ethically right.

“I have never mentioned that the list porn website visitors will be published… Technically it is not possible. We’re bound and committed to protect privacy of the people,” she said in a post on her verified Facebook page.

The junior minister’s post came following reports that the government would make public that the list of the porn visitors and subsequent comments by tens of thousands of social media users.

Many have trolled and passed negative comments seemingly targeted the junior minister.

She said it was based on rumors and many have crossed the limit of decency. “We also have senses of dignity, respect and pains that you have despite we are holding some positions. We are not aliens… do you think of it?” regretted the state minister.

She said that she never uttered that the government would make the porn visitors’ list public.

“People have their rights to express their opinions, to identify our mistakes. But none including both myself and you has the rights to insult anybody without knowing the facts,” she said.

Earlier on Monday, the junior minister said that the government will begin blocking websites that contain locally generated pornography, obscene pictures and video contents, from next week.

A committee has been formed to detect the porn sites and provide a list to the Internet Service Providers and Internet Gateway Operators to block those, she said in the Facebook post.

Tarana met Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, law enforcement agencies, ICT division, telecom department and information ministry officials to discuss the issue and formed a committee to find out a way to detect the porn sites.

The High Court last year directed the government to stop pornography and obscene picture from being uploaded and sent through mobile phones and social media sites.